CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?

[Sampo A Syreeni]

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, James A. Donald wrote:

> > on the whole I think you'll find few Brits who would give up the
> > idea of the NHS.
>
>Stockholm syndrome.

This particular argument works both ways and is exceptionally difficult to
prove in either direction. It's not nearly as credible as the economic ones
people seem to love, here.

As for the WHO study, it indeed displays some queer characteristics: for
instance, what on earth does mortality, per se, have to do with the quality
of health care? It is true that better health care for a population, other
things being equal, implies higher expected lifespan. This does not
necessarily go the other way around. Some more specific measures based on
mortality (like infant mortality, death from diseases related to affluency
etc.) perhaps serve as decent indicators of the general quality of health
care, but not the base measure.

Sampo Syreeni <decoy at iki.fi>, aka decoy, student/math/Helsinki university